Next week, the whole (type) world will look and travel to New York City for the incredible Typographics festival. I thought TypoBerlin this year would be impossible to top regarding number of Alphabettes in attendance and in town. But given that no less than ~21 ’bettes are living in NYC*, plus us global trotters who are visiting from abroad, next week’s event will probably be the record breaking meeting of our little club to date.

The organizers Cara di Edwardo, Alexander Tochilovsky and Roger Black did a really great job at putting together an interesting diverse line up (the first 50/50 female/male speakers event I know of!). Elizabeth, Nina, Marta, Fiona, Victoria, and I are speaking, Tânia is giving a workshop, Sara can be visited on a studio tour, and at the free Type Lab Isabel is doing a demo, and Amy and Bianca are organizing the Alphabettes Variety Show on Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned for details about that. If you are unable to join us at the lab, you may be in luck …

Check our Twitter and Instagram feeds for live reportage and other nonsense. And if you don’t have a ticket yet and are anywhere close to York Neue, this is your chance to see us in person, so register already. Or for the free Type Lab days. (Oops, I see the two events mentioned above are the only women on the Type Lab program. Girls, get out there!)

 
 
* Here is a map of us all I put together back in March for no reason; not totally up to date but giving a rough overview (pins are not showing actual location! No, Lynne is not actually living on the East River.)

It is almost eight weeks to the day since we launched the Mentorship Program. Here is a quick update on how it went so far and where we are heading next.

Number of applications received in the past 8 weeks

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Cover spread of “The New Wardens” in The Recorder #3. Illustration by Ellie Cryer. Additional illustrations by Ping Zhu, Ellie Foreman-Peck, Maya Stepien and Kelsey Dake.

Last spring, I was approached by Emma Tucker, the editor of Monotype’s recently revived magazine The Recorder, to write an article about women’s contributions in type for the upcoming issue. I pitched a series of interviews with women who were championing type and typography à la Beatrice Warde, given her deep connections to the original publication. Besides Shelley Gruendler, I had no prior personal contact with Indra Kupferschmid, Mariko Tagaki or Elizabeth Carey-Smith. Selecting only a handful of modern-day Beatrices was challenging; my list of potential interviewees was quite long. Ultimately, I tried to gather a variety of perspectives that included educators, practicing designers, and those active in contemporary discourse. I could have never imagined, only a few months later, they would all become an integral part of this thing called Alphabettes. Before it sells out, check out The Recorder Issue 3, featuring a host of engaging articles and contributors, as well as my interviews with “The New Wardens”. They’re in great company.

***June 29, 2019 Update***

For the past three months we have been making progress behind the scenes of our new and improved mentorship programme.

This is taking some time because sorting out our online privacy policy is more complicated than we anticipated. We want to make sure we are respecting your personal information. Our legal team is on it and we will be ready to go soon!

The Alphabettes mentorship program team

***March 19, 2019 Update***

After three years of matching mentees with mentors and collecting learning experiences, we realised that we need a short hiatus in order to grease our wheels. We are now in the midst of improving the application process and we will be back soon, with shiny updates.

For the moment, we will not be accepting new applications. For those of you who applied and have not been contacted yet, your requests are safe with us and once we reintroduce the program you will be our top priority.

We believe in the impact and the potential of this program and we are working hard to maximise it. Thank you for your patience!

The Alphabettes mentorship program team

(March 29, 2016)
As the first of hopefully several outreach activities, Alphabettes is happy to announce that we are starting a mentorship program. The aim is to help people, especially students and professional newcomers, to immerse themselves in the industry.

If you are looking for career, industry or educational guidance by professionals in the fields of type, typography, or the lettering arts, please fill in the form and we will try to match you with mentor who can guide you to achieve your goals.

If you are working in this field and want to volunteer as a mentor, please fill in the form and we will get in touch.

FAQ are listed below. If you have any additional questions, drop us an email: mentorship@alphabettes.org

What will you do with my information?
We will keep the information you provide confidential but may share parts of it with potential mentors to find the right match for you. Please be patient, it may take a bit until you receive a reply.

Can I choose my mentor?
We will try to match potential mentees with a mentor who is best suited to their career goals. If applicants already have a specific mentor in mind, they will have the option to state her name in the form but we can’t guarantee she will be available. If the preferred mentor has to decline the request we will try to find equally suitable alternatives.

How often will we meet?
You and your mentor will work out together how frequently, and when, you will connect. It can be anything from a one-off session to quarterly, monthly, or even more frequent meetings.

Where do we meet?
That’s up to you and your mentor as well. Meetings can happen online or in person. Our volunteers are spread across the globe. Some of us are in type-congested areas such as London, Berlin, New York City or the Bay Area where face-to-face meetings can be arranged more easily.

Who is eligible to apply as a mentee?
Although the program is open to everyone in our field, depending on demand, we may give preference to underrepresented groups.

What does it cost?
The organisation of the mentorship is at no cost, but also at no liability.

What’s the difference between a mentor and a consultant?
The idea is to provide guidance by experienced type and lettering professionals. It is not to be confused with free of charge consultancy. If you require more extensive business consulting or expert knowledge, you are welcome to get in touch with individual professionals: http://www.alphabettes.org/about/ or http://yesequal.us/

It is back to regular programming after a month of Love Letters, and we are here with news from December 2015 and January 2016. There is a lot to read, so dive right in!

Tamye Riggs is ATypI’s new Executive Director
Tamye, who is a writer, editor, and designer specializing in typography and the related arts, and served both as founding board member, and then executive director of the non-profit Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), is now the Executive Director of the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI).

Round-table discussion about women in type and Alphabettes at TypoMad in Madrid
Alphabettes Sol Matas, Sandrine Nugue, Julia Kahl, Veronika Burian, and Tânia Raposo participated in a round-table discussion moderated by Nora García at TypoMad in Madrid to talk about women in the world of typeface design and Alphabettes. Read more about the type conferences in December here. (photo below by TypoMad).

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This has been one of those cases where you wish you could be in more than one place at once. But Alphabettes are not one, we are many! Thus here’s a little recap of some of the type-related events that took place around the world in the last two weeks, so you don’t miss anything, and for those who didn’t follow along on Twitter. The idea for the #betteslive hashtag came about when we realized how much was happening within just a few days. With correspondents on several continents, it was intended as a way to better document, comment, and track the events from afar.

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To all book designers among you — the call for entries for the Walter Tiemann Prize 2016 is open for a few more weeks, and you should consider taking part! It is one of the most prestigious and interesting awards for books world wide (I think).

Jury session 2014

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Get ready for an action-packed weekend of worldwide type events. Can’t make it but wish you could? Our team of ’bettes from around the globe have you covered. Events include:

· 6et conference in Portugal
· TypoMad in Madrid
· iiitype in Paris
· Sara Soskolne at CooperType East
· and Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Biannual in NYC
· or DiaTipo, followed by What Design Can Do in São Paulo
with more to come.

Follow along and join in on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag

Lettering by Victoria, of course.